Underestimated
by MissAnnThropic
Summary: Because she made the speeches and all the bad guys knew her by name, Max always imagined herself the leader of Terminal City. It took her weeks to figure out she was not.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Underestimated

Author: MissAnnThropic

Spoilers: Freak Nation

LiveJournal: miss_annthropic(dot)livejournal(dot)com

Summary: Because she made the speeches and all the bad guys knew her by name, Max always imagined herself the leader of Terminal City. It took her weeks to figure out she was not.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(

Author's Note: Yep, yet another angle to writing Alec! Sooner or later I'll run out of them, I'm sure. Probably. Maybe. :)

* * *

Because she made the speeches and all the bad guys knew her by name, Max always imagined herself the leader of Terminal City. It took her weeks to figure out she was not.

At first, she was overcome with the burden of all these people she felt she had to protect. She gave orders and barked directions, and she didn't wait for those under her to question or object. There wasn't time. She had a job to do. And the tasks got done, so obviously her command was real. That was how Max saw it.

Then Terminal City developed a routine, a rhythm, and Max found time to breathe. People knew what needed to be done and did it. Patterns and duties were established and assigned. In all honesty, it became something of a ramshackle mock-up of Manticore, just without the cells or drill sergeants. A democratic military compound.

In the beginning, Max hated that when she saw it happening. She tried to fight it, to force Manticore out of Terminal City, but that was a battle she lost by increments. Mostly because she was one of the very few who hated the encroachment of military-mindedness.

The reason she eventually gave in was Alec.

The once-carefree sociopath was transformed after becoming a part of Terminal City, and Max was not the only one to take note of the change. Logan more than once had commented on Alec's 'steel', a term he never used to describe the transgenic before. But it was apt. Now, Max was hard-pressed to find the screw-off she knew so well at Jam Pony. Alec was a take-charge and respected personality among the transgenic population of Terminal City.

When Max was railing against the echoes of Manticore turning up in every facet of Terminal City, still fighting it with all her might, Alec finally pulled her aside and told her bluntly that she best back off on her crusade to purge Manticore from the transgenics. When she tried to protest, he cut her off and left no room for her to argue. "You may have spent the last half of your life in the ordinary world, but _we_ haven't, Max. Most of us have only been out of Manticore a year. It's our _identity_. So what if we adopt some of the things Manticore did? It's how we were born and raised. It's our culture, and _you_ have no right to take it from us."

Max had been flabbergasted, both by Alec's statements and the way he'd spoken. He had made a distinction between everyone at Terminal City and her. Them and her. It made Max's stomach roll at the sense of separation. She had always felt she was one of them. Alec told her flat-out she was the outsider.

But the truth was that Alec was right.

That was when Max started to watch more of what went on at Terminal City. Max was always a doer. Observation wasn't one of her stronger attributes. But after what Alec said, she started watching.

The other transgenics fell into military patterns and procedures naturally, without thought, and they were most comfortable when they were in that frame of mind. Max didn't like it, but she kept her mouth shut. When the residents of Terminal City didn't feel like cornered animals, when they felt like soldiers, the City was safer for everyone.

Alec had been right.

What Max began to notice after that was _Alec_. She had become skilled at looking at him without actually seeing him. On the outside, she made ignoring him almost an art form. He was a sarcastic jerk and she made herself a blind spot to anything he might be beyond what she defined him as.

In the ordinary world, that had worked.

In Terminal City, that snarky asshole Alec was simply not to be found. He moved among the troops, lending a hand in just about anything and everything, and being competent enough to be a help and not a hindrance wherever he ended up. Max had never suspected Alec was so versatile.

Wherever he went, Alec was accepted. That bothered Max, because there were many in Terminal City that didn't like her. She never knew all the reasons, but she never got the warm welcome from the others that Alec did. In the ordinary world, she had been the one with friends. In Terminal City, Alec was the popular one and Max felt like the grudgingly tolerated annoyance.

The moment that really knocked the wind out of her, however, was the day when she was giving orders to several transgenics about a power generator in need of repair. She was assigning people to different tasks, all full of her own leadership and power, while Alec stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. When Max was finished and told the grunts to get to it, she noticed (for the first time) each and every one of them, for only a second, look toward Alec. She saw Alec silently nod. Then and only then did the transgenics move to obey Max.

Max stared at Alec, dumbfounded. She knew she only noticed it that time because she had taken to studying Alec more keenly. She had never noticed that happen before, those under her command deferring to Alec, and she didn't know how to react. Alec gave her a trademark smile as if nothing was amiss and wandered off to see where he could be of help.

But Max was rooted in her spot, overwhelmed by the implications of what she had just witnessed.

So from then on, she started watching for it.

The first thing she realized was that Alec was always in the general vicinity when she was issuing orders to a group. He never made a big deal about it, but he was always close. Every time, before a single one of the transgenics she was addressing made a move to do as Max said, they looked to Alec first. It was only with his nod of agreement that they did what they were told.

They weren't taking orders from Max; they were taking orders from Alec.

Max started lurking. What she did probably almost constituted as stalking Alec, but she didn't care. She had to know the scope of what she was dealing with.

In her period of observation, Max realized that Alec was the one the other transgenics turned to. They went to him for orders, opinions, advice, even support… no one ever sought out Max for those things. They felt comfortable approaching Alec, and Alec never turned one away. Even when he was banged up and moody after a supply run gone awry, he would spare a moment of his time to untangle a Terminal City mess dumped in his lap. He always had friends near him when he was in a sociable mood. When he wanted to be alone, the others kept a respectful distance. When Alec entered a room, the occupants paused for a moment to see if he was going to give them an order.

Max felt like an idiot for not realizing it weeks ago. She was the poster child for Terminal City to the outside world because of all the ordinaries that had singled her out, but within Terminal City the real leader was Alec.

The transgenics humored her 'Max the Fearless Leader' act because Alec did.

Max understood that her command was only as real as Alec's willingness to play along.

That truth sat bitter in her stomach for days, and she was particularly nasty to Alec because of it. That made her realize just _how_ frail her position among the transgenics was. When Alec got fed up with her mood and blew her off, the rest of Terminal City followed his lead. Just about the only one who didn't give her the cold shoulder was Joshua.

Like so many curve balls in her life, Max took some time adjusting to the idea, and then she dealt with it. Fighting with Alec here had consequences. In the ordinary world, she'd abused Alec and taken advantage of his friendship and it had not made a dent in her life. In Terminal City, the fastest way to a really bad day was to piss off Alec. The entire City took it personally.

So Max learned to accept that Alec was their unelected and unofficial commanding officer. It would be a cold day in hell before she saluted to him, but Alec didn't seem to expect that of her, and Max took that as the small victory it was. She stopped seeing him as an adversary so much as an ally. Most of the time, he backed her decisions, and with his support Terminal City was on board.

She didn't love the idea of depending on Alec's command to get things done, but it worked and she was only doing what she thought best for Terminal City and her fellow transgenics. She had to remind herself that it didn't matter how those goals were reached, as long as they were.

Of course, she didn't breathe a word of any of these revelations to Alec. He went about his daily life heedless of Max's newfound understanding of her place in the transgenic chain of command. She did, however, make it a point to take Alec seriously.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

One day, Max came upon Alec sitting at a table quietly assembling guns out of assorted parts. She stopped a moment and watched him. His hands moved confidently over the weapons, expertly fitting the pieces into place. He was focused. Max rarely saw that cocky smirk of his anymore. He could still muster it up, but beyond the world of ordinaries he didn't see the need for it anymore. He was harder now, colder, but also stronger and more reassuring.

Over her indignation at finding out he was the one really running Terminal City, Max could see why they all followed him. She'd only really seen Alec the way he was to force himself into an ordinary world. There he had been a self-absorbed sociopath. Surrounded by transgenics, he was a natural leader. His looks were sharp, his moves fluid, his voice direct. There was a newborn beauty to him for it.

Max knew now it was seeing Alec in his natural habitat.

She envied him that, because Max never felt she was in her element, no matter where she was.

In all the time she'd known him, until very recently Max had underestimated Alec.

As if sensing he was being watch, Alec glanced up from the semiautomatic in his hands and spotted Max. For a second there was only the calm, cool commanding officer in his look. Then he smiled. "Hey, Max."

Max hadn't meant to talk to him, but she approached at his greeting like it was a summons. "Hey… think we'll get any decent arms out of that mess?"

Alec locked a slide into place and dry-fired the gun. "At least half a dozen. Of course, guns aren't as big a problem as ammunition."

"I'll see what Logan can find."

Alec flashed that mischievous grin, "Some more bad guys to steal from? Sooner or later, we'll have all their guns and ammo."

Max smirked. "I hope so."

Alec snorted and put aside the newly-assembled weapon to start on cobbling together another.

On impulse, Max sat down at the table across from Alec. "Alec…"

He looked up at her expectantly.

Max studied him closely. She wondered how she had ever felt she was in a position to demean or talk down to him. She couldn't fathom it now. In almost every way, he was her superior. She knew the ordinary world for having lived in it, but in Terminal City all she had to offer paled in comparison to what Alec could provide.

The transgenics needed Alec in a way they never needed Max. For someone who used to think little of Alec, that was hard to take.

"This is hard for me to say," she began haltingly.

The old Alec would have taunted her. This Alec recognized this was more than casual conversation and put down the gun part in his hand to give her his undivided attention.

"Thing is… I know I'm not the one in charge around here. Everyone in Terminal City listens to you."

"They listen to you," Alec said.

"Only because you do. Took me a long time to realize that," Max snorted, "and even longer to accept it."

Alec's lips twitched but he stayed quiet.

"But I know that the only reason I have any control over anything around here is because you give me your support. So… I guess I just want you to know I appreciate it."

Alec looked at her a long moment, then he shifted in his chair to rest his forearms on the table. "You're looking out for Terminal City, and sometimes it's in ways we can't understand. Remember how I told you we were too close to Manticore and you were too removed?"

Max nodded.

"Well, that means sometimes you're going to know how to go about something that we don't really understand. This _isn't_ Manticore, no matter how much it acts it sometimes. We have to deal with the world of ordinaries, and you're the best intel on that we've got."

"Right… we're all after the same thing," Max agreed.

Alec just nodded. He moved as if to return to his work.

For some reason, Max wasn't ready to surrender his attention. "I just… wanted you to know."

Alec looked sidelong at her, then he gave her a lop-sided smile. "So are these earth-shattering revelations of yours the reason you've been so especially bitchy lately?"

Max stiffened. "What, like I need a reason?" she countered on reflex.

Alec chuckled.

Max forced herself to relax. "But… yeah. Not easy finding out you're a private when you thought you were the general."

Alec frowned in thought. "They don't think of you like that. If anything…" Alec shook his head. "Never mind."

Max wasn't about to let that go. "What?"

Alec shrugged. "It's no secret we were breeding partners at Manticore."

Max froze, her eyes wide. "But we never… we've never…"

"That's not what the rest of our unit heard during the morning after report."

"And you never set them straight?"

Alec looked at her, nonchalant. "Why would I?"

"And you were mad at me for telling Logan you and I were together! You're such a hypocrite."

"Before Terminal City, it didn't mean anything. _In_ Terminal City… Max, you have authority here because most of them assume you're my mate. You can go explain to them that you're not if you want to, but I doubt you'll get much obedience once you do. I don't say anything to deny it because I can't be around to back your every little order. I trust your judgment, especially when it comes to the world outside this City, and I want them to respect your expertise. With Biggs gone, you're the best second-in-command I've got. Between the two of us, we know what we need of both worlds to keep this place going."

Max stood, angry. "Excuse me if I don't just love that idea. I find out this whole time I only get the tinniest amount of respect around here because they think you're doing me?"

"Sorry," Alec snapped fiercely, "I thought the important thing here was keeping Terminal City going."

"It _is_, but…"

Alec rose suddenly. "No _buts_, Max. Either this City and those transgenics come before everything or they don't. And frankly, if they don't, I don't want you having any authority over them."

"They're not _your_ soldiers, Alec."

Alec came around the table to stand face-to-face with her, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You ask them about that."

"You are so arrogant! TC's very own Napoleon Bonaparte. They're so lucky to have you." Max tried to leave but Alec grabbed her arm, tight, and yanked her back. She looked up into his eyes, surprised by the fire she found there.

"You know _why_ I ended up with command? Do you, Max?" His fingers tightened even more on her arm. "Because every one of them knows I'd die for this City, for them. And frankly, Max, you always had 'other stuff' that took precedence."

"I _never_…"

"The virus, Logan, your tattoos, your little quest to save the world with four-eyes." Alec narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't deserve their loyalty."

Max tried to pull out of his grasp. "I sacrificed for this place!"

"Yeah, you did. But you won't commit to it."

"How dare you!"

Alec let her arm go. "If you're so sure of yourself, then go tell them I'm nothing to you. See what that gets you."

Max didn't move from her spot. She pursed her lips and looked hard at him. "You're not _nothing_ to me, Alec."

"You always treated me like you were," Alec snapped. "And I put up with it because… hell, I don't know why I put up with it most of the time. I thought maybe under that double layer of bitch there was someone I could…" Alec shook his head. "You know what, just forget it." With that, Alec started to walk away.

Max rushed after him, moving around him to stand in his path. "No. We're not finished."

"What more do you want from me, Max?" Alec demanded.

"What do you want from _me_? I came here to tell you how much I appreciate you. You'd think you could show just a little gratitude."

"Gratitude? You mean gratitude for all the times you told me what a fuck up I was? Thanks, Max."

"That's not what I…" Max closed her hands into fists. "Alec, just stop."

"Stop what?"

"Stop… confusing me!" she said helplessly.

At that, Alec smirked darkly. "If you can't stand the idea of them thinking I'm like a husband to you, then find your own way to gain their respect. _Commit_ to this place, Max. Commit to us."

"How? What could I ever do that would convince them?"

Alec shrugged. "Beats me. Good luck." Then he walked past her and out the door.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Little Fella."

Max turned and looked over her shoulder at the familiar sound of Joshua's voice. She'd come up to the roof to be alone, but she wasn't surprised the transgenic with a heaping helping of canine DNA had been able to track her down. She missed being out where she could go to the Space Needle for solitude. Now the best she could do was the roof, and it was a poor substitute.

She tried not to sound unhappy to see Joshua when she said, "Hey, Big Fella."

Joshua sat down next to her and sniffed the wind before looking at her. "Max okay?"

Max frowned. "Not really."

"What's wrong? Maybe I can help." Joshua flashed a toothy grin.

Max smirked. She reached out and rubbed Joshua's arm, then sighed. "Alec runs things around here." She watched Joshua to see how he reacted.

Joshua just nodded. "I know."

Max wasn't sure what to think about Joshua knowing what she didn't. Frankly, she always thought herself smarter than the dog-boy. "Guess I'm just knocked on my ass about that..." she laughed hollowly, "here I thought I was calling the shots."

"Max does. Alec does. Alpha male and alpha female."

"That would be fine, but apparently I only have 'alpha' status because most of TC thinks me and Alec are screwing each other," Max groused.

Joshua whined and cocked his head.

Max's jaw dropped. "Joshua... I thought you liked Logan!"

Joshua shrugged. "Logan okay for a human, not okay for Max."

"So you think me and Alec..."

"No... know you're not getting busy... but you should be."

Max just stared at Joshua, mouth agape.

Joshua looked at her expression and said, "Max and Alec, go together good. Max fill in Alec holes, Alec fill in Max holes."

"Sure, we work well together, compliment each other and all that, but we're just friends."

Joshua shook his head. "Max and Joshua just friends... it's different."

It was true enough that Max didn't feel the same way about Joshua as she did about Alec. But still.

"Don't you like Alec?" Joshua asked in a small voice.

Max's face screwed. "That's a hard question, Big Guy."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just is. Sure, I like Alec, but he almost tries to get on my nerves. Sometimes I think that's how he gets his kicks is making me miserable."

"Hmmm... maybe Alec is like that because Max like that to Alec first."

Max looked up sharply. "What?"

Joshua looked up at his flag flying above Terminal City, still proud of his work, then looked down at Max. "Max isn't nice to Alec. Takes out her anger at everything on Alec."

Fighting her first inclination to argue, Max thought long and hard about that. And realized Joshua was right. She had been watching Alec a lot lately, and one of the many things she noticed was that Alec was not rude or mean to anyone else in TC. Not the way he bit at her sometimes. Alec kept the peace and got along with everyone. Got along with them far better than Max did. With everyone in TC, Max felt like she was always pulling teeth; they all seemed on a hair trigger to revolt and go against her. But not with Alec. He was kind with them, a comrade and friend, and they favored him for it.

Alec only flared up at Max, and usually only when she'd been tearing into him pretty good. She had to concede that she very well might bring it upon herself the way she tested Alec.

"I guess I do… sometimes…" It was hard to admit a flaw, but that it was to Joshua made it a little easier.

"And Alec usually pretty good about it, too," Joshua pointed out.

There was almost always a buffer of disinterest, sarcasm, and flippancy before Alec got mean and pushed back. A thinner buffer in Terminal City than there had been in the ordinary world, but still a neutral zone before anger.

"Well… yeah, I guess…"

"Why do you make Alec mad at you?" Joshua asked, so pointedly and innocently that Max drew up short.

She realized she didn't have a good answer. "I don't know. I just… _do_." Max thought back to the meeting that ended in their latest spat. "And I don't even try. I mean, earlier, I said something _nice_ to Alec and it turned into the same old thing with us. It's just easier to be mean than nice with him."

Joshua chuffed and shifted to sit facing Max. "You know why I think Max mistreat Alec?"

She didn't like to think that word fit, but the sad fact was that it did. "What's that, Big Fella?"

"Max didn't belong outside. Max doesn't feel like she belongs here. No where to go. Makes Max scared. Manticore said fear not okay, fighting okay. But fighting everyone makes you alone. But Alec… Alec loyal. Won't leave. So Max is mean to Alec because can be… because Alec won't go."

Max mulled that over, stomach soured by how true it rang. She looked sidelong at Joshua, contemplative, then sighed. Her observations over the last couple of weeks ran through her mind. "I haven't given Alec enough credit. I know that."

Joshua clapped her on the shoulder, perhaps rougher than he meant to. "So Max fix it?"

Max pressed her lips together. She'd really given a lot of thought to just how much Alec did for her, and how she could always count on him in a pinch, despite what she said about him.

One thing was for certain, Alec deserved better than how Max had always treated him. Problem was, being nice and civil was something Max knew she was painfully _bad_ at.

"I'm damn sure going to try, Big Fella."

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Max agonized over what she could say to Alec all the way through Terminal City to the living area where she knew she could find Alec's room. She knocked loudly, rehearsing in her mind all the things she might say. She still didn't know what to say when Alec opened the door and looked guardedly at her.

For a moment, Max could only stand there stupidly, looking up at Alec and searching for words.

"Max," Alec prompted, his body almost seeming to block his room from her.

"I… uh, I…" Max gritted her teeth. "I owe you an apology."

Alec's eyebrows rose but otherwise he didn't move.

Max scowled. "Can we not do this out in the hall?"

At first, Max thought he was going to make her do just that. Then he stepped aside to let her into his room. It was not the first time Max had been in it, and now she couldn't stop thinking about what all the other transgenics in Terminal City had assumed was going on behind Alec's door. Max felt herself blush in embarrassment.

"So… should I get a witness to this? The Great Max admits she's wrong about something?" Alec almost snarled.

Max turned and frowned. She opened her mouth to insult him, then stopped herself. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"With you? Max, when is anything ever easy?" Alec moved past her to flop down on his ratty futon couch. He crossed his arms over his chest defensively and looked up at her expectantly.

Max's gut told her to give him a good verbal lashing just for being Alec, but she stopped herself and was annoyed at how much effort it took. She went over to Alec's stained coffee table and sat on the edge, putting her so close to Alec that one of Alec's knees between her legs.

Alec's stony posture relaxed slightly and a hint of concern crept into his eyes at her unusual behavior.

"Look…" Max began stiltedly, "thing is, Alec… well… I'm sorry I'm such a bitch to you all the time," she finished in a rush.

"Uh huh. And you suddenly grew this big heart when?" he asked bitingly.

Max flinched. "Do you really think of me that way?"

It must have been her genuinely wounded tone that melted Alec's ice. He frowned, dropped his arms from his chest, and sat forward in his seat. It brought their heads almost temple to temple. Max made herself stay there and realized how comforting his closeness was.

"Of course I don't," Alec said lowly.

Max smirked wryly. "Wouldn't blame you if you did. The truth is that every time I've really needed you, you were there for me." She looked over at him, realizing for maybe the first time just how green his eyes were in the right light. "I give you so much shit, but you're always there when it really counts."

Alec shrugged one shoulder in a 'no big deal' gesture, but Max wasn't taking the easy out. Not this time.

"I think that maybe the Alec that can't be counted on, can't be trusted, can't take anything seriously… I think he's someone I just made up, and I've been punishing you for being someone you weren't." Max made a face at her own words. "Did that make _any_ sense?"

"Nah, not really," Alec answered, then flashed a smile.

Max laughed. It bled a lot of the tension out of her and when she met Alec's eyes again, they were gentle.

Alec leaned back and scooted over on the couch in invitation.

Max got up and moved to sit beside him. The couch sagged in the middle and Alec and Max ended up pressed together. It was actually pretty nice. Alec stretched his arms over the back and Max, knowing full well what he was doing, played along and rested her head on his shoulder. On rare occasions, they had comfortable moments when they both couldn't remember why they were always mad at each other.

"I'm not saying it's going to happen overnight," Max said after a moment, "but I'm going to stop treating you the way I do. You don't deserve it, and I'm sorry."

Alec moved his opposite hand over to touch her forehead.

Max pulled out of the touch. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for fever."

Max gave him a playful punch in the ribs. "That's what I get for having a moment with you."

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I love that you're going to stop treating me like I'm your cross to bear when you know what? Sometimes, you were _mine_."

Max sneered then sighed. "I guess I deserve that."

Alec settled back more comfortably on the couch and Max, indulging in the moment, snuggled down against him.

"We could be friends, you know," Alec mumbled absently, as if contemplating the universe.

"I thought we were," Max countered, a little hurt.

"We've gotten good at tolerating each other well. I mean _real_ friends. You know, the kind you _want_ to be around."

Max craned her head around to look at him. Alec gazed down at her, waiting for her reaction. She had gotten used to seeing just the expressions on his face, the snide smile and the sneer and the sarcastic smirk, that she had stopped really seeing his face. She took the time to look. There was no denying he was attractive. That was just the way Manticore made them. But what was new and exciting was that there was such familiarity there in his face, too. She knew the freckles on his nose, the tongue that had such a tendency to drag on his bottom lip, the shade of his eyes that shifted slightly with his mood. She knew his killer eyes were grey, his companion eyes green. She knew that for all the seductive leers and sultry smiles he'd mastered, his genuine, honestly amused smile was his most beautiful smile of all.

She looked at him and in that moment it hit her that she was looking at the man she'd named. Alec. A tongue-in-cheek joke that had christened a man who had become a rock in her tumultuous world.

"Why did you keep the name?" she asked impulsively.

Alec blinked. "Huh?"

"Alec… I picked it… why did you keep it?"

Alec frowned slightly at the strange question, then a peek of tongue darted between his lips and tugged at the bottom lip. He cocked his head. "Honestly?"

"Yeah."

Alec shrugged. "I liked it. It was the first name someone gave me that didn't use to belong to someone else."

Max blinked.

Alec gave her a lop-sided smile. "It was like the first real gift I ever got."

Max smiled, pleasantly surprised. At the time, she had not meant to give him something he would cherish. She was glad now that she had named him.

And she was very happy she hadn't gone with 'Dick'.

"I want to try… you know, being real friends," Max said finally.

Alec looked long and closely at her, as if gauging her sincerity, and then he smiled. "I'm up for the challenge if you are."

They settled back on the couch together, almost awed by what they had just agreed to do.

"Why did you put up with me treating you like dirt?" Max asked suddenly, breaking the reverent silence between them.

To that, Alec had a very simple and immediate answer. "I trust my instincts ninety-nine percent of the time, and I had a good gut feeling about you."

Max took it as a compliment and tried not to think about all the other things that had good standing with Alec's gut. Max could do just as well without comparing herself to a pork rind.

"Hey, Max?"

"Hmmm?"

"I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship," Alec droned in a strange voice.

Max looked at him, confused.

Alec rolled his eyes. "All right, welcome to the world of Alec lesson one. _Boob tube_."

"I think I'm already regretting this," Max groaned.

Alec looked toward her, momentarily wounded at the sharp and quick turnaround.

Until Max smiled.

Alec chuckled.

Max didn't pretend that this would be easy, but already it felt right. She had a feeling that once she broke her old habits, liking Alec would be a lot easier than disliking him had been.

She was looking forward to that.

END


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